Phil and Ned make good use of their limited time. things get heavy right away and the instensity doesn't let up. Nice recording reallyshows the fur and teeth of those resonant filters! a very good intermission set.

The whole first set is a good listen.
Jerry and Bob trading off tunes to good results.
Interesting jam towards end of the 'China Cat'
Donna sweet on 'The Roses'
Phil is up for the 'Let it Grow' and the jam is hot.
'Sea stones' is a total contrast from the 1st set.
(Not sure what else to say, very trippy)
'Scarlet' brings psychic relief to open 2nd set and Big River carries us along.
Keith is right on for 'Ramble on Rose' and Jerry has the vocals well in hand.
Outlaw Cowboy's choose the 'Mexicali Blues'
'He's gone' brings us to the most extensive jams of the evening and it is all hot right thru to 'Stella Blue'. (Great job on 'the Other one' vocals by Bobby!)

I was the one who yelled out "Mexicali" just before them going into the song. This was just me being a wise ass. You see, on this particular night I was within 20 feet of the stage and positioned in front of Bobby. While they were tuning Bobby quietly sounded out the main chord of the song and I guessed correctly that they were going to play Mexicali Blues. I got lucky.

Frankly, Mexicali Blues is not a song I would muster the lung power to suggest the playing of such audibly. Y'know? In fact, I always thought that screaming out song requests was a lame gesture ~ totally uncool. SAINT STEPHENS !

Truthfully, I was so knocked out with this band that I didn't care what they played. And, by 1974, because they had custom made guitars, the band was fairly adept at keeping their instruments in tune. Perhaps I should explain.

Back in the old days when Jerry was using store bought Gibsons and before the days of handheld guitar tuners he would have to tune his guitar between songs and it would always seem like an excruciating eternity waiting for him to tune up. You'd be standing there all ready to launch into your next whirl around the floor and there was Jerry ping-ping-pinging around looking for the note. We were all champing at the bit to hear another song as quickly as they could crank it out and here's Jerry patiently tuning that sucker. Waiting for Jerry to tune was harder to take than a wet-moustached grandmother because he was such a fanatic about tuning his guitar! But I guess it was all worth it. And I suppose it was worth a wet kiss from granny when afterwards she shoved a 20 into your unsuspecting palm.

Now to review this show. This was a great great show. The Wall of Sound was magnificent and the crowd was enthusiastic though jittery. The night before the audience was initially thin, but on this night, they were there earlier. It was a very hot night in San Francisco and when I drove over the Bay Bridge at 5:30 it was still close to 100 degrees. If you have ever been in San Fran when it was hot...well, you can understand the crowd's jitters. I have traveled all over the globe and I have never found a hotter place than San Francisco when, on rare occasion, it gets hot. And it was HOT, man, and still. There was no breath of air to speak of and people were chafing with heat rash. In 1974 there was little air conditioning in S.F. Why should S.F. need air conditioning? This place is called "the air-conditioned city." Anyway, I digress...

Going alone I had no trouble walking right up front and camping out. The band began on time.

The first set was spectacularly performed. However, right from the get-go one could perceive that there were some sound issues on stage. You could hear some sort of annoying chirping coming out of it at the most inopportune times. The kwipment krew was feverishly climbing all over the massive P.A. system trying to find the outness. They never did find it that night and the chirping sound lingered. After over 35 years of asking various people in GDP and others what the problem was I have finally deduced that one of Bobby's guitar mikes fell down behind the bass drum and was not located until halfway through the next night.

The WRS is immaculate. Jerry gracing it with his proboscis gnat notes of divine portability. It's merely a tuning up for the fireworks of the ensuing festivities. You'll hear him come back into the same gusting theme in the Other One>Spanish Jam> Mind Left Body>Other One jam of the vaulted second set.

Before I get into further details about the songs, another thing I'd like to explain is the Seastones set. My perception is that most people did not enjoy the Seastones segment of the performance. If you were there on this night Phil hit some bombs that were so low they were inaudible to the human ear, but not inaudible to the human bowel. The minute Phil hit that first lower than low note half the crowd made a dash for the exits. It is my understanding that the toilets were backed up for the remainder of the evening. I was 25 years old in 1974 and could hold my water all night so fortunately I never had to venture into the restrooms to envision the aftermath, but I could tell you stories.

Personally, I have always loved Grateful Dead feedback segments. Their feedback has been oft copied, but never duplicated. It could be considered the most original recorded music in American recording history. You could not deny that this is truly original music, recorded off the cuff as off the cuff it was performed. Truly a remarkable answer to the bathroom break.


Much of the sound on these recordings derived from the 16 track were deemed unusable. For some inexplicable reason, the recordists failed to notice a clipping level on one track that placed the needle in the red for much of this night's show. So disruptive it was that because of bleedthru the tracks were junked. Jerry would have immediately eschewed all of the cuts on this recording and decided not to use the bulk of them even though this was the night that they really struck gold ensembly. It must have been a hard wad to swallow when Jerry heard these tapes and had to say no. It is today thru the magic of digital remastering and analog re-creation that these sounds can be herewith accurately presented. Praise be to God for the insight to humbly manage these affairs. It is a supreme labor of love.



Jerry, Bobby, Keith, Billy and Phil are just flat-out relentlessly pounding throughout all the rest of this concert. Actually, in spite of the sound probs on stage, the ensemble of this mix shines through. You will easily discern every instrument and every voice. The chirping? Well, the chirping be damned. Ignore it.

Early Scarlet Begonias ~ perfectly rendered save for a few sour notes leading into the third verse.

In general, the sound that night in Winterland from my vantage point was just totally all-encompassing to all thought reasoning or logic. And, re-listening to this recording tonite makes me especially appreciative. This sound is an accurate re-capturing of the sound extant. It is a masterpiece of endless re-incapsulating of disproportion and thereby righting itself anon.

What ensues out of a dripping He's Gone is an utterly crazy whacked out nerve wracking Jam>Other One>Spanish>Mind Left Jam.which radically changes our DNA. This transfusion leads into the resplendent Stella Blue.

Factually, every thing after Stella is an afterthought, an after dinner mint, an aperitif.

Have to mention that also that upon this night 25 years later San Francisco was decimated by the Loma Prieta earthquake. We do herenow pause and reflect and take this moment to remember the dead who perished and to applause those who stood tall.